San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
A Hall of Famer feels a bit nervous
Ex49er Young amazed by play of Mickelson
PEBBLE BEACH — On a sunny Saturday along Carmel Bay, outside the scoring trailer behind the No. 18 green, former 49ers quarterback Steve Young turned to Workday CEO Aneel Bhusri, the other amateur in his group the past three days.
“Can you come with me tomorrow,” Young said softly, smiling, “and hold my hand?’
Young, a Hall of Famer and twotime NFL Most Valuable Player, will wander into fresh, unnerving territory Sunday. It’s one thing to win the Super Bowl after a lifetime of football practice. It’s another thing to play golf in the first three rounds of the AT&T Pebble Beach ProAm, without the outcome twisting in doubt.
And it’s another challenge entirely to tee off in the final group of the final round, on one of the game’s most storied courses, as your pro partner — Phil Mickelson, a Hall of Famer in this realm — chases a slice of history and $1.4 million.
Gulp.
That’s the scenario facing Young after Saturday’s third
round. Mickelson shot 67 at Pebble Beach, reaching 16under for the week, and will begin play Sunday one stroke behind leader Nick Taylor (69 at Spyglass Hill). Jason Day sits alone in third, at 14under, after posting 70 at Spyglass. Mickelson and Young also trail by one shot in the proam competition, behind Kevin Streelman and Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. Streelman and Fitzgerald won that side of the event two years ago.
Young does not pursue golf with Fitzgerald’s fervor or skill. Young is an enthusiastic if casual player, a 14handicap who squeezes in rounds between family duties and his obligations as an ESPN analyst.
So he’s savored the past three days, watching Mickelson hole improbable shots from bunkers and rough, or delicately plop flop shots close to the flagstick. Young marveled at the fascinating blend of science and art, as he put it.
Sunday will bring an added layer of tension, as Mickelson tries to win this tournament for a record sixth time. He and Mark O’Meara have five wins apiece.
“As an amateur, you need to just stay out of the way,” Young said. “Hit your shot and let these guys play; they have big things at stake. It’s kind of like someone coming out in a (football) game and running a 10yard out route in sneakers. Bro, no. … It’s a rare situation where you’re playing in someone else’s profession.” Mickelson and Young hadn’t played together before this year’s event — Bhusri helped arrange the pairing, and Workday is one of Mickelson’s sponsors — but they quickly clicked. Even as he zoomed into contention, Mickelson has routinely encouraged Young, offered swing tips and engaged in lighthearted banter.
At one point Friday, after another extraordinary chip shot, Mickelson smirked at Young and reminded him he once made a shortgame DVD.
Then, on Saturday, more evidence: Mickelson pulled off a preposterously difficult bunker shot on No. 7, bouncing the ball twice in the rough (from a halfplugged lie) before it trickled inches from the hole. Mickelson called it the secondbest bunker shot of his career, behind a holeout at Muirfield Village. He also made a bunker shot for birdie on No. 13 and holed a low, scooting chip shot for another birdie on No. 14. Off to the side, the quarterback shook his head. “As someone who can appreciate other athletes, this has been a really special three days,” Young said.
Mickelson’s marvelous play comes as something of a surprise, given his rampant struggles in the past year. He doesn’t have a top10 finish in 22 starts on the PGA Tour since he won this event in February 2019. He missed the cut in his first two starts of 2020, in Palm Springs and San Diego.
And now, barely more than four months from his 50th birthday, Mickelson finds himself in position to pursue career victory No. 45. If he pulls it off, he would become the oldest winner on tour since Davis Love III, at age 51, in 2015.
“I think Phil’s seen a lot of athletes around him pressing the outer edges of what you can do at certain ages in certain sports,” Young said. “And I guarantee you, with how in shape he is and how serious he is, he’s trying to find the outer edges of what it means to be an elite golfer, an elite athlete.”
All week, Mickelson insisted his swing speed and power still allows him to compete against players half his age. He just needed to clear his head, as he started to do in finishing tied for third at last weekend’s European Tour event in Saudi Arabia.
“These last two weeks, I’ve started to see things a lot clearer and execute a lot better without any type of negativity,” Mickelson said. “So I’ve been much more assertive and aggressive in controlling my mind.”
And now: one more Sunday stroll around Pebble, with a slightly skittish quarterback in tow.